So... I went on a little magnet frenzy this past weekend and made lots of adorable bottlecap magnets! Here is what happened...

First, I got an 8x10 steel sheet and two rolls of Washi Tape. I did a couple strips on the edges to spice up by steel and voila, I have a magnet board. :)

Then, I got together my bottlecaps, epoxy stickers, magnets, and E6000. I couldn't find my 1" round punch so I simply stuck my epoxy sticker down on the paper right where I wanted, and cut around it. Put a little E6000 inside the bottlecap, dropped in my epoxy (with the scrapbook paper attached) and let it dry. Then I glued the magnet to the back and I'm done! These were so simple to make that I got a little carried away...

So super simple...and I love them! I have no idea what I'll do with 45 magnets but...they're cute!

Daily Chalk Board Calendars

Have you all heard of Mindy Mae's Market? If not, you wantneed to check them out! They're a daily deal site that sells mostly craft supplies for a super discounted rate. But what I love even more is following them on Facebook. Nearly every day they play games with their followers, which includes things like "I'll Take It!" where they post a picture and a price (that usually includes shipping!) and the first to say "I'll take it" get its for the stated price. Dangerous as it may be, you should follow them on Facebook. You won't regret it!

So why am I talking so much about Mindy Mae's? Well I'm fairly certain that any craft I do in the foreseeable future will use something that I've purchased from them. Recently they were selling these adorable 4x6 chalk boards and I just couldn't resist. I bought seven of them so that I could put them on my fridge and make a weekly calendar. Here are a few of my favorites:

Some of the supplies I used included craft paint, doilies, fabric scraps to make rosettes, felt, and magnets. VERY simple :)
Finally, I am teaming up with Mindy Mae's to bring you an awesome contest and a chance to win a gift card to their shop. I can't wait to post the details, but be sure to check back soon or follow on facebook or twitter for full details!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Desk Makeover

I picked up this desk off of Craigslist last month for $40 in the hopes of replacing my wobbly folding table sewing area (the one that was supposed to be temporary, but has been set up for over a year now!). I loved the lines and the hardware, but there were some water damaged and warped areas on the top so I immediately knew that I wanted to paint it a bright color to give it some new life.

The first step was to recruit my handy hubby for some serious sanding and smoothing. I started to do the task myself, but it was SO loud even inside the house that it freaked out the baby, and I switched over to distract-the-baby-upstairs-mode and left the tools to the guys instead.

Step two: recruit some pajama clad helpers to assist with the priming. It was a good thing that he only "helped" with the back side of the desk because he didn't pay very much attention to the instructions about keeping your brush strokes going in one direction! :)

I ended up giving it two coats of primer to make sure that every little nook and cranny was smooth and ready for paint.

I wanted the desk to be a light shade of aqua, so I mixed some of the remaining teal paint that we used on the big boys' bedroom walls with some light blue that we had leftover from Sawyer's baby nursery to create the perfect shade. I gave it two coats and topped it with a coat of poly to seal it since I knew that its future life as a craft table will require it to be washed and wiped off frequently.

In its new home all ready for crafting! The color is more true-to-life in the previous picture since the windows above the desk let in SO much light that it washed it out. I'll try to get another picture of it when everything is all set up and ready for sewing (and once I finish the bottoms of the legs too...didn't think that part would slip by y'all unnoticed!)!

Monday, March 26, 2012

I might have a little craft crush on tiny spools. They are just so cute! This simple project takes less than ten minutes, but the end result is an adorable little pin cushion you can keep on your craft desk.

Phew! It's done :) As most of you know I had an unfortunate time getting the paint for this wall BUT, I must say I'm totally happy with the wall! It completely transformed my kitchen!First, we taped off the edges.. which proved to be quite complicated considering we have rounded corners..

Then we chose to start in the middle of the wall so that the edges would end in the same pattern.

Then we got a little carried away and forgot to take pictures... so here we are in the home stretch..

And here we are even closer to completion...

We found that our edges weren't as clean as we had imagined and it was really stressing us out, but when we stepped back and weren't RIGHT up next to the wall, it really wasn't noticable at all... We did have to clean the stencil a few times, they provided a couple of ways that it could be done.. The first way we cleaned it was by letting the paint dry and then peeling it off, I don't recommend this way because it somewhat stretched our stencil..

I still have a few more finishing touches, but I couldn't wait to share!

*Update*Questions & Answers:

How long did it take? - We worked on it in the evenings so we did a couple hours here and there, overall I'd say 5, maybe 6 hours.

How did you deal with rounded corners? - We found where the straight edge of our wall ended, leveled it out, and taped it straight down.

I have textured walls, will it work? - Yes! We have textured walls as well, looks awesome!

Where did you get your stencil? - www.cuttingedgestencils.com, we were a little bummed to find that the level shown in their video is NOT included with your stencil, so don't count on it!:)

Was it easy? - Yes! If you are able to color in the lines, you're good!

Well, craft night was a pretty awesome success! We had so much fun and created some pretty cute stuff! We found a tutorial for birds nest necklaces here, ordered all the necessary parts, and got to work!Here are some of the necklaces that were made:

We then found a tutorial for the lace headband here. We had some left over lace from a previous daily deal, so we got started! Here are a couple that were made:

Then a button bouquet was made! We had some buttons from a previous daily deal and some wire from the birds nest necklaces and we were ready to get started!Here it is:

A few more "flowers" will need to be added but...we ran out of buttons!

We had oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, Cadbury Eggs, Reese's Pieces, Skittles, Swedish Fish, and M&M's! Lots of gossip, girl talk, and...fun! Hope we can have more of you along for the good time at our next craft night!

Friday, March 23, 2012

These washi tape magnets are perfect for adding a pop of color to your magnetic surfaces (they work
great on sheet metal!) without the commitment of actual tape. They have the same look as torn tape,
but are actually crafted from recycled advertising magnets! They're so fun and easy that you'll want to
make a bunch - swap out colors and patterns to suit your mood or match your outfit!

I started with some advertising magnets that I found hiding out in the back of a kitchen drawer, and I
gave them a quick coat of spray paint. I used white primer because it was the first can I grabbed, but I'm
sure that any light colored spray paint will work (note that you will be able to see this color through your
washi tape!).

Tear your washi tape into strips, stick to the painted side of your magnet, and trim to size. I added a little
bit of a jagged/wavy edge to give the impression of torn strips of tape. I kept mine simple this time, but I
think it would be a lot of fun to play around with color, layering and different shapes and sizes!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

I’m in love with how this wreath turned out! I knew I wanted burlap and I wanted it to be versatile and interchangeable. So I concocted this little beauty! Here’s how I did it:Materials:

14” foam wreath form

approx. 1 yd of burlap

felt

ribbon

hot glue gun

I started by wrapping my wreath form with 2.5” wide strips of burlap (I cut along the length of the burlap so the strips were relatively long). It took about 3 strips to get all the way around. I literally just pinned them in place. I didn’t use hot glue because it comes through the holes in the burlap easily and I didn’t really feel like burning myself!

Then I cut a jillion 4×4 squares of burlap. Some squares were bigger, some were smaller. It doesn’t have to be perfect at all (my kind of project)!

Next, I took the squares one at a time and fold them in half, and then in half again.

Then I simply used a pearl headed pin to pin them into the wreath form.

And fold and pin, and fold and pin, and fold and pin. Forever and ever amen. Until you’re all done! It really didn’t take that long.

To make the flowers, get out your felt and glue gun!You need to cut the felt 2.5” wide along the length of the felt. Then, take your strip of felt and fold it in half. Hot glue the long edge where your fold meets together.

*Hint: To make bigger flowers, glue 2 folded strips together.

Then you want to cut little “notches” along the side that is not glued. Be sure not to cut all the way through the strip. You don’t have to be precise when cutting these notches either.

It will look something like this when you’re done:

Then you just start at one end, add a dab of glue to the end, and start rolling it in.

Keep rolling, adding some hot glue along the way, until you’re all done! Secure the final end with a dab of hot glue. And then you’re all done!

I wanted this wreath to be interchangeable, so I glued little clips to the back of the flowers and I literally just clipped them on to my burlap wreath!